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Tutorial: Your First Canandcolor

This tutorial covers the complete setup of a Redux Canandcolor. By the end of this lesson, you will have a wired, configured, and programmed sensor reading color and proximity.

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”
  • A Redux Canandcolor
  • A RoboRIO with a configured CAN bus
  • A laptop with WPILib VSCode installed
  • A basic FRC robot project

  1. Basic Wiring
    Connect the Canandcolor to your robot’s CAN bus.

    • CAN High: Yellow wire to the yellow wire.
    • CAN Low: Green wire to the green wire.
    • Power (12V): Red wire to a 12V source.
    • Ground: Black wire to the corresponding ground port.

  2. Install ReduxLib
    Open your FRC project in VSCode.

    • Press Ctrl+Shift+P.
    • Select WPILib: Manage Vendor Libraries.
    • Choose Install new libraries (online).
    • Paste the ReduxLib URL: https://frcsdk.reduxrobotics.com/ReduxLib_2026.json

  3. Configure the CAN ID
    All Redux devices ship with CAN ID 0. We need to give it a unique ID using the Alchemist or the web dashboard.

    • Deploy a basic robot project that includes CanandEventLoop.getInstance(); in robotInit.
    • Open a web browser and navigate to http://roborio-XXXX-frc.local:7244 (replacing XXXX with your team number).
    • Find the device with ID 0, type 1 into the CAN device ID box, and click Change ID.

  4. Write your first code
    In your Robot.java file, let’s read the proximity and color from the sensor.

    import com.reduxrobotics.sensors.canandcolor.Canandcolor;
    

    public class Robot extends TimedRobot {
      // Create the sensor object with ID 1
      private final Canandcolor m_colorSensor = new Canandcolor(1);
    

      @Override
      public void teleopPeriodic() {
        // Read proximity [0..1]. Values DECREASE as objects get closer.
        double proximity = m_colorSensor.getProximity();
    

        // Read the Hue [0..1)
        double hue = m_colorSensor.getHSVHue();
    

        System.out.println("Proximity: " + proximity + " | Hue: " + hue);
      }
    }

  5. Verify on the Dashboard
    Deploy your code and open the RIOlog. Place an object in front of the sensor; you should see the proximity value decrease. Try different colored objects to see the Hue value change!

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”

Now that you have the basics working, check out our FRC-specific tutorials:

Or explore the Programming Guide to learn about HSV tuning and digital output triggers.